I hop around the Second Life virtual world a lot. During one of my recent rounds, I found a new item at one of my regular stops: a prominent sign, bright red and twice the height of a virtual avatar, spelling out the behavior rules required of those visiting the sim of that particular Christian sect.
Among those ten commandments were two that caught my attention (presented here as they appear on the sign):
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2. This is a CHRISTIAN sim—Do not recruit other religious sects and groups here.
9. Gossip and Rumors are not tolerated. Spreading notecards about staff members here will result in an automatic ban--NO EXCUSES!
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Why did those stand out? Mostly due to my boss, the principal of the school where I teach. She encourages our students to learn self-discipline and self-regulation by regularly repeating to them, “Don’t make me make a rule.” It’s a pretty common sense principle: you only make a rule to prohibit behavior that’s already going on. Chances are, the behavior is occurring pretty regularly, too. If it weren’t, you would simply speak to one person about the issue. You wouldn’t have to make a far-reaching regulation about it.
When I saw those rules, I had to conclude that the Christian sect I visited was finding itself losing members to other faith communities, and that it was battling a campaign of note cards with rumors and gossip about its members. More specifically, the rumors were about the leadership of the sect, not about the congregation itself. Notice how the rule specifically prohibits saying bad things about staff members.
Looks like somebody made them make a rule.
Good Reputation and the Word of God
I won’t tiptoe around my thesis here. I’ll say it outright: Those of deservedly bad reputation and thus held in low esteem among unbelievers have no business running a church, be it a real life congregation or a faith community within Second Life. Those who have ruined their reputations should immediately close the doors of their churches and embark on a spiritual pilgrimage of prayer to seek the will of God in their lives. Those who worship in the churches of leaders who have earned bad reputations should come out from among them and find places of righteousness and good repute.
I’m usually not that blatant with my opinions. But the Word of God is quite direct in what it has to say about the reputations of church leaders. Those who aspire to be teachers and pastors of Christ have to go into the job knowing that they’ll be judged more heavily than others, which James 3 makes clear. Leaders must have a good reputation with outsiders, Paul tells Timothy (1 Tim. 3:7), or they’ll fall right into the devil’s trap. What trap is that? Basically, bringing shame and revilement on the Good News of our Lord. After all, what a clever diabolical trick it is … having the Gospel of our salvation preached fully, even accurately, by pastors whom unbelievers ridicule and whom Paul chides for their immoral actions, intemperance, brawling, lack of sobriety, inhospitable natures, and the contention they create.
Such pastors are a shameful thing … and they demean the very Gospel they proclaim, making it, too, look like a thing deserving ridicule. Scripture drives the point home powerfully when it speaks of the Gospel being brought to ridicule because of the behaviors of simple, young housewives (Titus 2:5). If inexperienced little girls must be vigilant to ensure that “the Word of God not be blasphemed” due to their behaviors, how much more responsibility falls on one presuming a role of teaching and church oversight? A leader must have a spotless reputation … “without reproach,” as Paul insisted.
But They Spoke Badly About Jesus, Too!
One of the first things a Christian leader will say when his reputation is tarnished is that Jesus warned of such things. “They’re persecuting me, just as they persecuted Jesus!” (see John 15:20). And that’s a great point. True preachers of the Gospel will suffer persecution from unbelievers, just as those of bad reputation, preachers trapped in the life of the flesh, will be reviled by those who see their untransformed lives. How is a believer to tell the difference between the two?
As you might guess, Scripture points the way. The persecution of a righteous man is a blessing, not a curse. He doesn’t have to make a rule about “not recruiting” believers away from him when he’s tested; the kingdom remains with those persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and such persecution leads to rewards. There’s one condition, however … the rewards come if those reviling you “say all manner of evil against you falsely” (Matt. 5:10-11).
Kind of a big condition, I guess.
When unbelievers speak badly about an honorable, righteous pastor, the fruits of that persecution are actually glory and honor to God.
“Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable,” Peter writes in his first letter (2:11-12), “so
that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”
So that’s the crux of the matter. Both true and false pastors will be able to claim persecution. But only true pastors will be able to point to the fruit of that persecution. They will have little need to create rules to stop an exodus of believers who flee their congregations in search of holier ground. And that is why I found the above rules so noticeable: They not only forbid criticism of leaders at the church sect I was visiting, but they also censor the speech of any who might in good faith stop by to enlighten or correct fellow believers, longing to “snatch them out of the fire” (Jude 23).
In effect, the rules I found at that particular SL Christian sect can be restated as: (1) You may not discuss any of our leaders’ alleged sins; (2) You may not invite anyone away from the presence of those alleged sins.
Let’s end with the Word of God, always more powerful than the word of man (or the words of verbose little girls):
“A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” - Proverbs 22:1
Marana Tha,
Cosmic
